Day 198 – 200: Mocuba to Nacala

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Today will be the longest distance of driving on our whole trip so far so we really wanted an early start. We set an alarm 06:30, but then only left at 08:00 again. We gave a small donation to the mission as there is no official rate for camping.

The road was very good and we made a good time to Nampula, which we reached by 13:00. There were only a few short detours where repairs were being made to bridges that presumably washed away in the floods in the beginning of the year.

We stopped at a Puma to refuel and to withdraw cash from a Standard Bank, but to our surprise, the maximum amount you can withdraw at a time was only R1000 (5000 MZN). We thus had to withdraw money twice just to pay for the fuel. Each time attracting an R50 ATM fee.

We then stopped at a VIP Spar where we bought soft rolls and cheese and shampoo (Hugo forgot our new shampoo that he brought from South Africa at Casa Rossa). We also got the Movitel sim card properly registered in Nampula.

The area around Nampula is very beautiful with large Inselbergs scattered over the landscape some looking like solid pieces of rock with no vegetation on it.

The last stretch of the road also went by quickly. As we got closer to Nacala we drove past hundreds of Cashew trees and then passed people waving us down to buy cashews. We eventually decided to stop next to the road where there were only three people who came running towards us. We bought a bowl full of roasted cashews for only R20. It tastes rather good, but we’re not used to unsalted cashews.

We got to Nacala in the afternoon traffic at 16:40 and it took 30 minutes to do the last 12km to the Libelula Lodge. Just before the lodge, we stopped to buy Poa (Portuguese rolls sold by the roadside). Caro took 50 MZN (about R10) and came back with 10 large buns. We immediately ate two just plain.

Libelula doesn’t offer camping anymore as there is no market for it but Ian, the owner, allowed us to camp close to his house on a flat piece and use the toilet and shower of one of the empty chalets. According to the register, we were the only guests for the past two days. We can’t quite figure out what the camping sites used to look like, but there is an abandoned building which probably used to be the ablution block and some other platforms that probably had safari tents or lapa structures on.

We set up camp, took a shower, ate some more dry bread and then basically went to bed at 19:00.

We slept for more than 12 hours and eventually got out of the tent when it was getting too hot to breathe.

We made delicious scrambled egg Portuguese rolls with chorizo, mayonnaise, cheese, and tomato for breakfast. Afterwards, we took our snorkeling gear and went down to the beach, but the wind was blowing too strong.

For the rest of the day, we thus worked at the restaurant using their fast internet. We hoped the wind would calm down, but it didn’t really. For lunch, we had the fish of the day, which was Dorado. It tasted good, but the portion was very small. We worked until dinner time and then decided to order a pizza which also tasted really good.

We ended up working in the restaurant until 23:00, before going to bed.

The next morning Hugo to the Hilux for a 5000km oil change service in Nacala. After returning at 12:00 we had a salad for lunch with Ingredients that Hugo bought at Terramar in Nacala. Cherry tomatoes, yellow pepper, carrot, onion, garlic and new Portuguese chorizo.

The wind was a bit calmer so we went down to the beach and snorkeled a bit until something started to sting us. Then we started noticing the thousands of small jelly fish. We thus left the water and sun bathed for a bit and build sand castles.

  

  

Later we went back up and swam in the swimming pool. For the rest of the afternoon, we set up the tent again and made dinner. In the evening we went to work again until passed 21:00.